Tesla Model Y Versus The Bottom Line: What We Learned

I sat down to watch the Model Y unveiling tonight with a list of questions that I was hoping to get answers to from a business perspective. Namely, where the Model Y was going to be produced, what quantities the company was looking at, and whether there were any hints about current demand to help explain if the plan to shut down many Tesla stores had to do with there being so much demand that it made no sense to keep them open, or if there was a so-called demand pocket for the vehicles at the moment.

And, we learned … none of that.

As I pointed out in my first article about the surprises, the reveal of the Model Y was the first time that I feel like Tesla acted fully like a major automaker for an announcement. A large segment of Tesla fans and market pundits are obsessed with hearing about every detail of how Tesla is doing what it is doing (and thanks for reading this article and visiting CleanTechnica!), but instead of feeding into that and potentially making statements that are difficult to follow through on, the Model Y announcement was a simple presentation walking people through the history of the company and explaining the next step.

Having said that, I started playing in the configurator for the Model Y and the interior is so similar to the Model 3 that I had to double check that I was still looking at a Model Y.

This is a guess, but I’m curious to hear what you think — we heard before from Elon Musk that the Tesla Model Y would use more than 75% of the same parts as the Model 3 (or ~76%). The interior is so similar, at least in the front, that I don’t see any parts beyond the rear-view mirror being redesigned to come down a bit further.

There had been statements put out by third parties that Tesla hadn’t contacted them to start ordering parts for the Model Y yet, which was held up by some as proof that Tesla was rushing this announcement. I’m now of the belief that the majority of the parts that Tesla doesn’t make itself will be identical to what is used in the Model 3.

To me, this is actually a hugely important bottom line — the amount of shared parts will enable Tesla to tightly control the costs on the Model Y, and I expect that combined with the experience the Silicon Valley company has from the Model 3 will allow Tesla to make a significant margin on every Model Y sold.

The parts that are different may mostly be in-house parts, like the doors, hood, and windshield.

Stay tuned for much more exclusive content from the Model Y event. CleanTechnica had three reporters on hand.

About the Author

Frugal Moogal A businessman first, the Frugal Moogal looks at EVs from the perspective of a business. Having worked in multiple industries and in roles that managed significant money, he believes that the way to convince people that the EV revolution is here is by looking at the vehicles like a business would.